


Truth Will Set You Free

by orphan_account



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Prideshipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22133347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Kaiba wasn't honest with himself when trying to rationalize why he surpassed the laws of reality to visit his Pharaoh in the Afterlife. Fantasies are just imagination. He needed reality. Dark Side of Dimensions
Relationships: Kaiba Seto/Yami Yuugi, Kaiba Seto/Yami Yuugi | Atem
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	Truth Will Set You Free

**Author's Note:**

> i came back to my childhood yugioh thinking "itll be okay, i'm not gonna get drawn in like last time" like the stupid pog that i am

Kaiba did not collapse upon his life points draining to zero. It was how it always was--yet that made him question whether this was _really_ just another simulated battle with his new holographic technology. In past battles that were rendered by his duel dimension system, Kaiba always ended up the victor, despite reality pointing out that his win-ratio was a straight loss. And now with the Pharaoh gone… he’d never be able to change that.

So why now, did he lose in this duel?

“Kaiba.”

He heard his name. The man who he had fought tooth and nail to get a chance to see again finally spoke. Oh, he hadn’t earned the right to hear from the Pharaoh before, Seto surmised. Not until the Pharaoh saw that nothing had changed—he would still always lose.

The sound of his voice brought Kaiba to his knees, as though two heavy hands had settled themselves on his shoulders to help him fall into his rightful place. Kneeling to the Ruler of Egypt—the King of Games. When would things change?

Atem was approaching him, walking down the steps from his throne. A hand lifted, which signaled to the guards that they may leave.

Seto looked at his arm, the glowing black duel disk not offering up any answers. He’d made his way all the way to Egypt, walked right into the Pharaoh’s palace, and dueled him.

The sound of footsteps echoed off the walls, and then it was just the two of them. Did the guards even matter? Seto could have just fizzled them out of existence with the aid of his imagination, right? So why then did the guards decide to walk out as if they had a room beyond this tomb to go to?

“Kaiba,” the Pharaoh whispered. He hovered over the Man who Chased. Chased after him.

Seto had imagined things, once… maybe twice… that it could go like this. But…

A tan hand was offered down to him, but he was trapped inside his own mind, trying to figure out what was and wasn’t.

Atem crouched down, pressing a palm on Seto’s face. Rarely had he been able to physically connect with Kaiba when he called Yugi Moto his home. To his surprise and amusement, the man tilted his head into the physical contact.

Was this real? His technology had always brought 4D into the gaming world, where you could feel the pain of your life points being taken away from you and be affected by the gusts that came from explosions. With the connection to his brain in this latest model, a user could, in their mind, feel and _touch_ the hologram thanks to Solid Vision.

Kaiba’s mind was buzzing with new information. The Pharaoh’s hand was soft! And this smell… he would have never ascribed it to Yami—was this part of the programming?

It had to be. Maybe it was a randomly selected smell in an attempt to trick himself into believing it was real.

“Kaiba,” Atem said again, his other hand moving up to Kaiba’s face, cupping his head and tilting it upward, hoping to gain some eye contact. Kaiba finally reacted, a hand clamping down around Atem’s wrist. Something physical to hang on to.

His head was spinning. There was so much power in that delicate touch; how could something so soft radiate so much power?! It was almost suffocating, the aura that Atem radiated. He gritted his teeth under the pressure, eyes watering as they struggled to lift to take view of his victor. So easy to stare before, when he was on his feet, but down on his knees, it was to behold a God.

“You could have moved on…” Atem murmured, a smile on his face that something in Kaiba’s chest throbbed for. How many times had Yami ever smiled at him like that?

“I…” Kaiba choked out, throat feeling swollen with so many things he wanted to say. “I did, I moved on to the afterlife.” He paused. “In fact, I was here before. Not in body, but in spirit.”

Atem tilted his head. “And how did you manage that?”

“I summoned Obelisk even though you took him with you. I’m pretty sure I’ve moved on and back several times now,” he managed a smile. The fact that he was able to rip Obelisk the Tormentor from beyond in that duel against Aigami was the catalyst for him to pursue reverse-engineering the Millennium Cube to…

That’s right. To bring him here. But how much of this was the Millennium Item’s doing, and how much of this was just his hologram technology? Obelisk the Tormentor was not in his deck when the battle with Aigami concluded. He could see, hear, feel, smell Obelisk, like he was a real entity, and yet when all was said and done, he didn’t exist. Not there. In his dimension. Only in his technology-aided imagination.

Was it only in the dimensions within the Millennium Cube that those that don’t exist, suddenly exist? Is it all based on the power of one’s imagination to make things a reality because they desire it enough that the Millennium Item can create it?

He struggled with the idea that, even here, this Pharaoh was just a thought of his imagination, and not a true relic of the Afterlife.

“Quite impressive.” Dark fingers combed through light brown hair, petting the scalp and admiring the silky texture. Atem had arranged himself so that he too knelt, knees on either side of Kaiba. Kaiba seemed a bit absent-minded here.

“You’ve had your duel with me. Why aren’t you going back?” the Pharaoh pondered out loud, settling his hands on Kaiba’s weight-burdened shoulders.

“Why?” why… wasn’t he going back? He thought he knew the answer, but it wasn't coming out of him.

“It takes a lot of motivation for one to cross dimensions the way you have. It was all to challenge me?” Those dark hands squeezed his shoulders appreciatively before sliding down his arms.

“It…” The Pharaoh’s home seemed to whisper and talk despite the silence, a chant in a foreign language that spoke of wisdom far beyond his knowledge.

Was this just a conjuring of his mind, or was it a pseudo-reality conjured up with the help of the Quantum Cube?

“Did you come not just for a duel with me, but _for_ me, perhaps?” Atem mused, hands sliding under the white coat, prodding the fabric underneath and tickling skin that was only a thin layer of clothing away… “Kaiba.”

Those violet eyes were hypnotizing… god, could he stop looking at him for two seconds?! He couldn’t think with that and all the distracting touches!

“Why else would you still be here?”

Why else would he still be here?!

Only in his fantasies did he ever have the troubling thought, thoughts that shouldn’t be happening.

He found strength in him all of a sudden—was it strength, or the lure of the magnet to the Pharaoh’s awesome power? He was leaning forward in the Pharaoh’s hands.

His chest tightened and heart hammered.

“Kaiba,” the Pharaoh whispered, again, those lips moving once but the name echoing like a mantra.

He wasn’t worthy. This man before him had saved the _world_ and managed to live beyond. His face was pulling closer.

His eyelids fluttered closed, unable to accept what may be fantasy rendered real by mere machines.

“Kaiba,” he could feel his name breathed upon his own lips. Thoughts that should never come to light, for if he were to admit it, they would have to change. Wouldn’t it be better if he got to stay himself and Atem would get to stay Atem?

When would things change, he’d always asked himself. This challenge of being honest with himself, the fear of calling out those ridiculous fantasies that he tried to bury with work. These fantasies aren’t supposed to be here.

“…” Whether Obelisk was real or just a figment of his technology, right here and right now, an essence of something on level to the Egyptian Gods filled his body as Atem’s lips met his. A strength he’d never known, only a glimpse scratching the surface when he’d seen Yami in his world.

Fantasies couldn’t imagine this. Not something so other-worldly.

Change, he tried so many times in his world, change in all the ways he thought would give him an advantage. The only time he saw success was when Yami’s words made him change. Thousands of hours spent improving technology, yet it changed nothing compared to Yami’s impact on him.

This power bestowed into him, it would give him the power to make a step toward Change the way the Pharaoh did it. His fantasies would never have him do this.

His arms wrapped around his Pharaoh. He felt his mind open. He let go.


End file.
